![]() ![]() Ericka Hart was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in May 2014 at the age of 28 and tried to do an image search for Black women who underwent double mastectomies, she wasn’t able to find anything. Ericka HartĪ post shared by Ericka Hart, M.Ed. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, for her contributions to civil rights and medicine. Later, she became the director of the Howard Orphan Asylum for Black children in Long Island, New York.įollowing more than 40 years working as a nurse, Mahoney dedicated much of her time to campaigning for women’s equality, including being one of the first women to register to vote in Boston in 1920. When she graduated from the New England Hospital for Women and Children Training School for Nurses in 1879 at the age of 34, she was only one of three people ( out of 42) to complete the difficult 16-month program.īecause of the difficulty she faced finding a hospital job as a result of her race, Mahoney spent most of the next three decades working as a private nurse, during which time she was renowned for her compassionate patient care and efficiency. Not only was Mary Eliza Mahoney the first Black professional nurse in America, she was also known for her contributions to both local and national health organizations. From that position, she continued to work to end health care and health insurance disparities for minority communities and women and fight against the HIV/AIDS threat. While in office, Christian-Christensen chaired the Congressional Black Caucus’ Health Braintrust for 15 years. “Many times people would come in just to talk about whatever problems they were having, so I kind of looked at it as bringing my office work from a local level to a larger, national level.” ![]() “In my practice you always find that there are a lot of social and other issues that impact the health of your patients,” Christian-Christensen noted in a 2013 interview with the University of Notre Dame Observer. Christian-Christensen held a variety of local government positions before her 1996 election. She started working in an emergency room in the Virgin Islands in 1975, then quickly got into community organizing as well once she started talking to her patients and learning about their social and political concerns.Īfter that, she ran her own practice and began working as a health administrator, eventually rising to the position of assistant commissioner of health for the Virgin Islands. Virgin Islands in 1996, she was the first female medical doctor to serve in Congress, but that was far from her first achievement. Donna Christian-Christensen was elected as the delegate from the U.S. Image: United States Office of Insular Affairs, United States Office of Congresswoman Donna Christensen, via Wikimedia Commons By 1961, she was the chief resident at the University of Arkansas, where she oversaw the all-white, all-male residents and interns. After college, Elders joined the Army and then in 1956, went to medical school, where she was required to eat in a separate dining room with the cleaning staff away from her classmates. Joycelyn Elders has been one of the most powerful voices in public health over the past several decades. Read up on these women’s health heroes (who have undoubtedly inspired a whole new generation of Black healthcare heroes) and celebrate their impact on the field and be inspired by all the ways they’ve changed the game. Their stories aren’t just a reminder of all the progress we’ve made (and the dangers of gatekeeping powerful minds from our intellectual arenas) but also a chance to look toward all the great minds joining the game and upping our odds of living happier and healthier lives in the future. In reality, though, there have been many people of color - including these Black women - who have left a powerful mark on health, medicine and the policy conversations around both. ![]()
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